News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
A new development code being crafted by the City of Sisters is supposed to simplify and clarify the rules for building in town.
The Model Development Code for Small Cities, created under the auspices of the Department of Land Conservation and Development and the Oregon Department of Transportation, provides a simple format for rules covering residential, commercial and industrial development.
According to city planner Neil Thompson, the code will replace the Sisters zoning and subdivision ordinances with one, more compact document.
That, Thompson said, should make it easier for developers, builders and citizens to understand the rules that cover development.
"Right now, it's almost like I'm a medieveal monk" interpreting the city zoning ordinance, Thompson said.
New, clear rules are especially important now, Thomspon believes, because Sisters is poised for a boom in development as the sewer system is completed.
"The model is going to change with the sewer," Thompson said. "There's going to be a whole new ballgame. I expect a wave of re-development,. There's a lot of in-fill potential."
Some changes that could occur under the new code include making it easier to site professional offices in residential areas.
"I think we're going to see those springing up in all our residential neighborhoods," Thompson said.
The new code would set more specific standards for such developments --what parking is required, how much signage is allowed, hours of operation. Such activities are currently allowed as conditional uses, but criteria for acceptable developments are somewhat subjective.
"This establishes an objective criteria," Thompson said.
The code also sets standards for multi-family developments such as duplexes, which may become popular as lots are broken up.
Mayor Steve Wilson expressed some concern that DLCD might try to force an agenda of densification on the city through the code. The city decides what goes into the code, but DLCD has to sign off on it.
"I have some reservations about --for want of a better term --the 'social engineering' aspect of it," Wilson said. "I don't think the current culture of Sisters is going to adapt easily when zero-lot-line (multiplexes) start appearing."
Wilson said he worries that state land use planners want a density in Sisters that would lead to a population of 9,000 people or more in 20 years.
The Sisters City Council and planning commission, with help from state agency field staff and citizen advisors, has been crafting the code in workshops.
Thompson expects a draft of the code to be completed within a couple of weeks. The planning commission and the city council will then hold public hearings on the document.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
Reader Comments(0)